Update June 23, 2022: Shota Nakajima is no longer involved with Banzai Teriyaki, for reasons that aren’t publicly clear. But Banzai is open and serving the denizens of Cle Elum plenty of tempura, teriyaki, and sake-fueled drinks.

The good news: Shota Nakajima is readying a restaurant called Banzai Teriyaki that offers everything from elegant appetizers to a kids menu to a massive rooftop patio. The news you perhaps weren’t expecting: This project is located in Cle Elum.

Last year, Nakajima partnered with a Bellevue- and Cle Elum–based businessman named Eric Bolstad to launch a preternaturally fresh-tasting teriyaki sauce under his Make Umami label. Bolstad, as it happens, also owned real estate in downtown Cle Elum. Nakajima knows the area well as a jumping-off point for his frequent mushroom foraging trips.

The idea, says the chef, is to bring more restaurants and nightlife businesses to this pocket of Central Washington, 80 miles east of Seattle on I-90. The Banzai team believes this will be the first rooftop deck in the Cle Elum and Roslyn area. The location at 219 First Street also portends plenty of excitement from Seattleites who visit nearby Suncadia.

Banzai’s menu centers on teriyaki, as you might imagine. It includes chicken, salmon, short rib, and vegetable versions (not to mention three heat levels—regular, spicy, and “good luck”).

“It’s a teriyaki dive bar, honestly,” says Nakajima. Though dive bars don’t usually offer duck spring rolls, mochi ice cream parfaits, and sake. Seattle artist Shogo Ota of Tireman Studios will imbue the space with the same frenetic Osaka nightlife vibe he lent to Taku. The single-story brick building sits next to an alleyway; come summer it will be filled with lanterns and outdoor tables. Upstairs, the rooftop can hold more than 100 people. That space will be 21-plus, but the main restaurant will have a kids menu—and a cocktail menu designed by Elmer Dulla, a guy who has presided over some great bar programs in Seattle.

Grilled chicken in sweet soy sauce is one of the few foods Nakajima actually enjoyed as a little kid. “I was a picky eater back in the day,” he admits. But he did partake of Seattle’s particular teriyaki traditions; Nakajima remembers visiting Toshi Kasahara’s seminal Toshi's Teriyaki Grill restaurant as a kid. He grew up with Kasahara’s kids and would go with them to watch their dad char-grill chicken thighs at Seattle’s first teriyaki shop.

Nakajima’s been busy since his appearance on Top Chef last year made him a household name beyond Seattle. He was a finalist on the show’s 18th season, was voted fan favorite, and reopened his Capitol Hill bar, Taku, as a karaage hangout. His Make Umami sauce came out this past fall, a bracing ginger-driven concoction capable of winning over teriyaki agnostics while also pleasing purists. Along the way he’s been trying to use this burgeoning platform to create a more positive kitchen culture—and Nakajima promises a few more restaurants are in the works, both in Cle Elum and closer to home.

He knows a teriyaki dive with a rooftop bar 80 miles outside Seattle is a little unexpected: “I like doing weird things; this is an extremely weird project and it makes me very happy.” He also digs the idea of bringing Japanese food to a part of the state where it doesn’t have much of a presence. Banzai Teriyaki will open in late March; keep tabs on the website for more updates.